Evangelicals want more women leaders

Life in the Church?, which carries out ongoing research into the views of evangelicals, found that an increasing number feel that churches should have more women in leadership roles, although men still outnumber women when it comes to running churches.
The latest Life in the Church? research canvassed the views of 1,864 people, and discovered that 73% agreed that women should hold senior positions in the Church, and 80% stated that women should preach or teach.

Most of those who participated in the Survey attend churches led by men – 84% of senior leaders are men and 16% women. Women make up 36% of the leadership of churches that have a leadership team.

The balance might soon shift if the number of women in ministry training go on to become involved in church leadership. More than 40% of ordinands, currently in Church of England ministry training, are women.

These figures are matched at the London School of Theology, Europe’s largest evangelical training college, who say there is an upward trend for the number of women studying Theology.

Dr Dave Landrum, Director of Advocacy for the Evangelical Alliance, said: “This Report confirms our earlier research, showing that evangelicals are strongly supportive of women being in all kinds of church leadership. Countering some of the less helpful caricatures of evangelicals, the Survey shows church life as being vibrant and healthy.

“The Survey also illustrates how much churches both value and contribute to community wellbeing – further evidence that community engagement by the Church is propping up a Big Society that would otherwise wither and die.”